Ok, gotta admit I've wanted an AR-15 for awhile, and now the State of Illinois is looking to ban "assault weapons" and trying to make political hay out of the Aurora, Colorado shootings last week. I'm opposed to government gun control, and I'd like to add a nice AR-15 to my collection. Problem is, I'm not well versed on them, and my budget is about $1200 for one.

The old conventional wisdom was "A-B-C": Armalite, Bushmaster, or Colt.

While my personal loyalties are with Armalite, there are a myriad of manufacturers out there right now making equal quality rifles. With the availability of components nowadays, probably the best rifle for the $$ would be one you assemble for yourself if you're willing to invest the time to do so.

I agree. I have a Colt target model, iron sights, that I bought in 1995 and a Bushmaster m-4 flat top that I bought 3 years ago. Both are excellent weapons and the Bushmaster is suprisingly accurate for a carbine. You can’t go wrong with Bush or DPMS or Colt and you’ll still have money left over for some decent optics.

I just put my 3rd RRA AR together last week. This one for a son in law. They are top notch and very good to deal with. Also, I live very near them. I built one for a stepson who is a dwarf and they went overboard helping me fit it to his special needs.

I went with the (affordable) Bushmaster and bought a very nice EOTECH holographic sight. All within your budget.

Which Bushmaster and what options did you put on it? Anywhere I look up here in the People's Socialist RepuliK of Illinois the Bushmaster's are going at a premium, I can't even think about any decent optic's for it at $1200....

$1200 is a nice price for a middle of the road model that will last you a lifetime. I am actually considering building my own just because I am weird that way.

Of course, the obvious S&W, Colt, Rock River, etc are recommended, but you can also consider going through Model 1 and ‘build up’ your own gun to your own specifications. Because you are choosing individual pieces, you can often get great quality for less cost.

Kalashnikov had the most bragging-rights with the higher-caliber standardized for it. AR manufacturer's have pretty-much caught-up to the reliability-levels of any AK's in this current tactical market. From 2011 onwards, Advanced Armament Corp (AAC) finally bridged the levels of caliber size, knockdown power, subsonic-suppressed shooting and middle-class affordability with the .300 Blackout

You can buy completed uppers, with the barrels mounted to the upper receiver, the foreend on, the gas tube in, etc.

You can buy them in multiple calibers and slap them on a conventional AR-15 lower.

If this sounds like anything you’d like to do, you might want to get a lower that is labeled as “Multi” for the caliber instead of just “5.56” or “.223.”

You could have one lower and play switch-top, putting on a long-barrel .223, a carbine-length barrel, a 6.8 SPC barrel, a .300AAC, yadda, yadda, yadda.

As for quality: The little-known issue about “quality” in the AR world is that when you start climbing up the producer chain, you find out that a lot of the forgings for the receivers go back to perhaps only four companies. A lot of companies buy receiver forgings in the raw from the foundries, machine them and put on the anodizing or powder coat, plus a rollmark, serial #, etc. If you have an issue with a forging or the metal quality, you’d better check out where your lower was really produced, because you could find that several alternative companies you’re considering as a source in fact obtain their forgings from the same place you’re not impressed with the metal quality.

That said, the biggest issues I have with some less-than-perfect AR receivers (both uppers and lowers) are the depth of the anodizing and the tolerances on the machine work.

Rock River is good. Most all are decent; it’s the toys that muck things up, usually, and a user that doesn’t understand the limitations of the weapon or the toys.
I’ve had a good many AR’s over the years, and I keep hanging on to the Bushmasters. Solid, well priced, and damned reliable, in my experience.
I stay away from steel case ammo, and I buy and sell magazines to keep my stock within a year of new. Other than that, clean it and use it.

49
posted on 07/31/2012 7:16:51 PM PDT
by PubliusMM
(RKBA; a matter of fact, not opinion. 01-20-2013: Change we can look forward to.)

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